


abutor

by egare



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Archivist!Fiona Law, Gen, Season 5 Spoilers, am I gonna expand on this? probably. will i expand on this quickly? absolutely not., emma harvey do NOT interact, the creepy adoration Jonah Magnus has for his Archivist, timelines??? what are timelines
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-22
Updated: 2020-05-22
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:00:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24326926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/egare/pseuds/egare
Summary: It is a careful line for him to balance, Jonah considers. Allowing Emma to lead her and scar her, but not letting her die. He is just as much invested in this... experiment that Ms. Harvey has decided to conduct as the conductor herself, albeit for a much different conclusion than she. And so when Emma and Fiona find themselves standing in front of a coffin, James Wright requests a favor and ensures that the former goes in first.Years later, Jonathan Sims laments on the perceived incompetency of the Head Archivist.
Relationships: Martin Blackwood & Sasha James & Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist & Tim Stoker
Comments: 2
Kudos: 35





	abutor

Jonathan Sims was not impressed by the Head Archivist.

Like her predecessor she was a graying old woman, but where Gertrude Robinson portrayed her age in sophistication and capability gained through years of experience, the current Head Archivist showed hers through tangential stories, a relaxed demeanor at the concept of things like deadlines, and rules that may have made sense to her decades ago but now only seemed to hinder any actual work getting done. Of the few complaints Jon had of Gertrude, the new head had been here too long to even consider changing— the organizational system stayed similar to the one previously held, if not made worse through thoughtless color coordination of files and piles of statements that they were meant to “find a space for, they just make sense to go together.”

No, Jon did not particularly like Fiona Law’s way of managing the Archives. He might even be so bold as to say, at least in the comfort of his own mind, that he did not even like the woman herself.

There were oddities in her way of leadership that had been the topic of conversation for multiple after-work drinks. Sasha would bring up how odd it was that they were required to investigate certain statements in groups of three if they had to go anywhere, and Martin would remind them that she had told them preferred if they worked in a buddy system. Tim, in return, brought up the fact that said system usually consisted of pairs, not trios. He would always have a smile on his face as he recounted tales of how he kept accidentally startling the old woman to which Sasha would playfully punch his arm and warn him, “You’re gonna give that woman a heart attack, one day.” He would respond that he probably wasn’t the scariest thing she’s encountered.

They would turn somber, briefly, and Jon would know he was not alone in his curiosity of how a cowardly woman such as Fiona Law got so many scars. For a woman who could spend hours chatting the day away, Ms. Law often shied away from any attempted questions regarding her marks. Beneath her left eye was a trio of vertical scars that reached the junction of her lips, spaced away to suggest that it had been a person who attempted to claw it out, but too sharp to be normal fingernails. She had excused it as a cat scratch to a curious statement giver, but turned around and blamed it on a car accident to the next one who asked. Her arms were covered with what appeared to be, at first glance, an abundance of freckles that were nowhere else on her body. Closer inspection revealed them to be pockmarked scars that seemed to be from insect bites which, in and of itself, did not raise any alarm; it was her reaction to any questions regarding the marks that made one worry, watching the way she shrunk in, looking more the part of a tired old woman than before. 

There were other scars as well— on one particularly warm day a large jagged wound was visible at the end of her collarbone, and Tim had whispered “Did she get _stabbed?_ ”. He hadn’t been quiet enough, it seemed, as Fiona put on a jacket later that day and continued to wear sleeved blouses regardless of temperature. But most interesting was the mark on her wrist, darkened with what almost appeared to be soot and dirt. It was in the shape of a hand, wrapped around with what would have been the pointer finger facing up toward the elbow, as if whoever had grabbed her had been reaching up. Fiona Law was not a tall nor strong woman; Jon couldn’t imagine a situation in where someone would reach up to grasp her and expect her to not fall with them. 

She did not shrink in on herself when asked about the mark, but rather waved off the questions with half-baked excuses of “Oh, an old coworker slipped down some stairs, very sudden fall,” or “Not to worry, dear, just a birthmark”.

Alongside her cowardice and scars, the archival assistants were fascinated with the relationship between Fiona Law and Elias Bouchard. Tim had once suggested they were probably lovers, and Martin spit out his drink at the idea— she was in her sixties, at least, Tim! Sasha had agreed that, while not lovers, they were certainly… close. She commented on the fact that she had seen Elias almost fond when he looked at her, pointing out the responses that could have considered something akin to fretting whenever she made a complaint about her eye acting up or how much her bones despised the weather. She suggested perhaps they were relatives, or Elias just had a soft spot for the elderly. Tim stood by his theory of them being lovers, much to the amusement of the others.

A smaller part of Jon, one who still jumped at sudden knocks, was suspicious of how much she just seemed to Know some things. For the longest time Jon wrote it off as her years of being an archival assistant: Tim would ask aloud if anyone knew where a certain case was, and she had the exact location for him down to the right file color. That wasn’t odd, as Jon had begun to learn what some of the colors and positioning around the Archives meant as the months continued on. But sometimes she gestured in a vague direction before any of them were able to vocalize their question, focused on her own work, and without fail the statement would be there. 

Work was simple, until the Carlos Vittery case. Fiona had stepped out of her office and given a rundown of the statement to Tim, Sasha, and Martin; Jon simply listened, working on what little followup he could for Naomi Herne’s case from his desk. When Sasha mentioned that she still had to look into the records for Herne and said it might be better to send Jon Fiona waved it off, saying to put it on the back burner and take plenty of torches and an old shoe in case any more spiders showed up. He tried to ignore the look Fiona gave him at the mention of spiders.

It was not uncommon for Jon to be alone in the Archives with Ms. Law, having voiced his preference toward less… personal followup, and a focus on what could be confirmed through facts rather than recounted experiences. But that day had been different, the silence more palpable, tension evident. After the first hour he could hear Fiona drumming her fingers on her desk, and when Jon looked over she was staring off into the distance, a concerned expression on her face. She stopped when she caught him looking at her through her open door and plastered a smile on her face, responding to the unasked question.

“I’ve never been a fan of the Spider.”

Half past four o’clock, Fiona joked if she could take him away from his statement for a minute, needing an extra pair of hands. Jon complied with nothing more than a curious glance, following her to and from the breakroom and helping carry what equaled five cups of tea between the two of them. He watched as she nearly spilled the two cups she was carrying; she had been startled, but not surprised, at the sudden and rather loud appearance of Tim, Sasha, and Martin. The trio looked out of breath, and she ushered them into her office.

Jon had never seen Fiona with such a serious look on her face.


End file.
